The Experiments
by barkimafish
Summary: Steve, Bucky, and Peter struggle to survive after being kidnapped. However, their captors are not interested in watching their victims die: they are intent on pushing the three Avengers to their limits to study what they're made of. Meanwhile, Tony leads the rest of the Avengers on a search to find their missing teammates.
1. Chapter 1

Steve Rogers threw his shoulder against the door, causing it to crash open. The momentum pulled his body to the ground before his tired legs could re-balance it. His fatigue didn't hold him down for long though as he sprang back up and turned back to look through the doorway. It was too late: the door had already closed automatically.

"Peter?! Bucky!" Steve yelled, voice near hysteria while he pounded the closed door. He was stuck in the small white room, alone, while his friends were on the other side. He forced himself to take a deep breath. Panic wouldn't get them anywhere. Besides, they had been through the same tests every day for the past week. Or two weeks. Or maybe only three days. Time had become a blur under captivity.

From what Steve had gathered, the objective of the experiment was straightforward: escape the maze or risk death. Initially, there was no external motivator for the three subjects to finish the maze. Safely behind their cameras, the controllers had watched Bucky Barnes walk into the maze for the first time and take a seat, content to waste his kidnappers' time. Peter had agreed that the air in the maze room was much better than their cells, so he, too, had laid on the ground and proceeded to take a nap. Steve had remained standing, his eyes vigilantly scanning the room for incoming attacks. When Bucky had noticed his best friend's unease, he called out, "Hey, Steve, c'mon, if they want to come in here and try something, let 'em come: I'd love to get my hand on a few of these jerks…" However, in the middle of Bucky's fist-bump with Peter, a herd of people did show up, but these weren't their kidnappers. They were too jumpy, too manic. This new breed of hard-skinned Hulk-like experimental mutants charged at them, forcing Peter, Steve, and Bucky to solve the maze in record timing.

They had run through this experiment so many times that Steve had lost count. It was a new puzzle every time, but up to this point, all three of them had always made it out alive. Peter always finished first. He credited his "Spidey-senses," but Steve knew the kid's flexibility was playing a role as well. The agile young man used his arms to fling his body around corners, kicking his feet against the walls instead of crashing into them, then rolling smoothly across the floor to the next corner. It was an impressive sight.

Steve had typically come second, but he always stayed close to Bucky whose missing arm made him an easy target for the attacking creatures. Bucky always talked a big game, but Steve wasn't so sure that his friend could hold off more than one mutant if he got cornered.

Today, Steve had finished first. It was a long puzzle, and the creatures seemed more blood-thirsty than unusual. He couldn't believe how careless he had been not to check over his shoulder for Bucky one last time before crossing the threshold. Exhaustion was no excuse for leaving a man behind.

Just as Steve was about to try ripping the door off its hinges, it burst open, pushing Steve to the side. Bucky stumbled in, awkwardly supporting Peter with his one arm.

"Bucky!" Steve lunged forward to catch Peter who had slid from Bucky's grasp. Gently, he laid the boy on the ground. Peter's face was pale, and his breathing was shallow. "Peter?"

Bucky dropped to his knees next to Peter. The boy was slightly shaking, and his eyes had closed. "I saw him leaning against a wall just as you ran through the gate," Bucky said, answering Steve's unasked question.

Steve nodded. "Peter, can you hear me? Did something hurt you?"

Peter's eyes opened enough to look up at Steve. "Cap'n?" he slurred, glassy eyes sliding shut once again.

"I think it's his blood sugar," Steve diagnosed, familiar with symptoms related to malnutrition. It was no surprise that Peter was falling apart. They only had one meager meal at a rate that seemed like once every other day. Steve and Bucky both burned energy quickly but not nearly as fast as the growing mutant teenager did. Peter had been looking lethargic after just a few experiments, and they were well past "a few" at this point. Not only that, but the experimenters were repeatedly taking blood samples from the three of them, and they seemed particularly interested in Peter's blood. Dehydrated, the boy's body was having a difficult time replenishing the stolen blood.

Bucky cursed under his breath. "This wouldn't be happening if you just ate some of my last meal like I told you to," he pointed out to the near-unconscious Peter. Then he turned to Steve, asking, "What can we do?"

"Nothing," he answered bluntly. Steve sighed. "We don't have any‒"

He was interrupted by a strong burning sensation on his wrist. Like the maze, Steve was accustomed to this. It was the same poison that allowed their kidnappers to overpower the three super-humans. At that time, it has caused all of them to pass out; now, having built up some kind of immunity as Peter suggested, it was only crippling enough to bring them to the ground, gasping for air and squirming in the pain. It was worse than the serum that had transformed Steve: this made his blood feel like acid in his veins, crushing his heart and disintegrating his lungs. A separate injection was now used to knock them out. Though he would never admit it to his teammates, he was always a little surprised when he woke up with his ability to breathe still intact.

On the other side of the room, doors opened and men walked in. One said, "Take him out. Fix him up but take a sample first!"

It wasn't long before Steve and Bucky were dragged into unconscious as their young friend was carried away.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tony Stark collapsed at his desk in his workshop. Peter's Aunt May had every right to be worried and confused by her nephew's kidnapping, but comforting people was emotionally draining especially when he was in dire need of comfort himself. If anything happened to that kid, he'd… Hell, Tony didn't even know what he would do.

Tony was just about to reassess the case information when FRIDAY informed him of a visitor.

"Hey, why don't you call it a night and get some sleep?" Rhodey asked.

"The trail is getting colder by the hour, and you know it," Tony answered forcefully. "Where are the others? Let's review what we know."

Rhodey held back a sigh. As of 2:14 PM, it had been 72 hours since the last voiceover from Peter Parker was heard, the last of the three victims to say anything. "Wilson and Banner are upstairs with Pepper, eating. Vision is with Romanoff and Maximoff in the briefing room, looking over everything we've got so far."

Ten minutes later, everyone was sitting around the long table in the briefing room for the third time that day. It was late, but no one complained. Having found nothing new, everyone had already memorized the details of the event. Nevertheless. Stark studied the notes on his screen.

At 1 PM three days ago, the Avengers had been gearing up to lead a storm on an underground bunker in Washington state. There had been reports of odd creatures roaming a particular forest. Because initially the team was only going to sweep through the area, Tony let Spider-Man tag along with Cap, Barnes, Vision, Wilson, and Romanoff. However, the undocumented bunker caught their attention. Cap was right: they should have taken time to regroup. On the other hand, Stark had a feeling that they were already being watched.

Somewhere inside that maze-like industrial bunker, they ended up walking single-file down an unlit hallway towards heat signatures. It was then that they were ambushed by things that smashed through the walls beside the team. Tony was sure it was a trap: they had weaponry designed to infiltrate even Iron Man's and Vision's machinery. In minutes, each member was injected with some horrible poison. With the humans barely breathing and Vision down, Rogers and Barnes disappeared first. It seemed like abducting Parker was an afterthought, causing him to speak last. It had been barked out through gasps for air and groans of pain, but it was clear who he had been addressing: "Mister Stark!"

Tony snapped out of his notes and memories when Bruce began talking. The scientist reported, "The lab got back to me about everyone's blood and urine samples. They didn't identify any traces of any common sedative. Whatever they injected into you might have been a homemade concoction."

"I think we could have guessed that," Natasha said, unimpressed. "It was able to take down Cap _and_ Peter, and those two can handle a variety of biological hits."

The corner of Tony's mouth perked just a bit at the subtle reminder of Roger's immune system. A few months ago, when everyone had been out of training for food poisoning from some bad Chinese takeout, Rogers had recovered almost immediately compared to the others. He was the one who had been pouring Ginger Ale and cleaning the bathrooms.

Tony addressed Banner. "Maybe that's a good thing. If it was an unusual substance, then we can trace it back to a specific source."

Bruce nodded. "That's what I was thinking, too. We'll keep looking for anything out of the ordinary."

Tony turned back to Wanda, Natasha, and Vision. "There was nothing left where the bunker was?" While recovering, the Avengers had heard reports of an explosion at the site of the abduction. Their kidnappers had destroyed the evidence by recklessly blowing it up. The news had shocked them all. Regardless, Stark wanted to see what was left.

Wanda shook her head. "It caused a forest fire. We helped put it out as quickly as possible, but there was nothing left."

Vision noted, "We spoke to several firefighters and nearby citizens after handling the fire. No one seemed to recall any odd activity in the area of the forest by the industrial shelter, but more interestingly, everyone seems to have forgotten seeing any odd creatures in the forest as well."

Natasha added, "Yeah. Those reports must have been fabricated, so I traced them back to their sources. Each report of a rampant creature in that forest was sent from a library, and each library is in a different state all around the country. There's no pattern."

Over seventy-two hours and nothing to show for it.


	3. Chapter 3

The Experiment Chapter 3

Bucky groaned, squeezed his eyes shut, and leaned forward to hold his throbbing head. "This is a new kind of torture," he complained.

"I do this kind of thing in school, like, every single year," Peter grumbled.

Bucky threw a pity-filled look to Peter and whispered, "You brave soul‒"

"Pull yourselves together," Steve commanded, interrupting Bucky's charade. "Reading and doing some silly math problems is not life-threatening. Better this than the maze."

Each of the three was chained by the ankle to a desk that was bolted to the floor. They were arranged in a neat row with Steve in the middle, and they faced a floor-to-ceiling one-way mirror that displayed nothing but their reflections. The extremely small room also had white walls, gray floors, and lights as blindingly bright as those in a department store. As usual, there were no windows and the single door was behind them.

Their kidnappers had given instructions for these experiments. They were given exams that tested various mental proficiencies such as memory and logical reasoning. Before, during, and afterward, their pulses were measured through their wrist bands and brains scanned through the technologically-advanced one-way mirror.

Steve wasn't sure what their captors were looking for. If these were tests then the maze running must have been some sort of test, too.

Steve sighed. At least these exams were easy. Even if the tests were hard, he would still be grateful because Peter was back. Spider-Man or not, Peter was just a kid; Steve felt that he and Bucky needed to do a better job watching out for him.

* * *

Many tests later, the three were beginning to feel the effects of continuous mental effort without rest. They had stopped talking very much between exams, preferring to close their eyes until the next paper booklet was placed in front of them.

This time, however, the man who came in did not bring booklets. He instructed, "Answer the questions that will be presented on this screen by clicking one of the three buttons on these devices." He motioned to the mirror-screen behind him then placed a clicker with buttons on each of their desks. "With each wrong answer, you will be punished. Talking his prohibited. Sharing answers by non-verbal communication methods is prohibited. Turning away from the screen is prohibited. Refusing to answer a question is prohibited. Violating these rules will result in punishment."

Peter wasn't sure what sort of "punishment" these guys were referring to, but he didn't want to challenge the people who succeeded in kidnapping a couple of Avengers. Even if it was just a dose of that poison, he wanted to avoid it at all costs.

Unfortunately, after a few warm up questions, the questions were timed and grew increasingly difficult. Steve was the first to miss a question. It turned out that the result of the wrong question was a shock from his wrist device. It wasn't major but it was significant enough to rattle him. Both Peter and Bucky had instinctively turned to their friend, resulting in a shock from their own devices. Steve warned his friends too late, "Don't look at me!" which resulted in a second electric pulse. Then all three missed the question on the screen, resulting in yet another shock to each wrist.

Now that they were all shaken up and tense, it was even more difficult to answer the questions correctly.

It continued until the questions were too complicated to answer in such short time, and all three were getting punished after every question for what felt like an hour. At one point, Peter gave up and tried to put his head down, but got an electric pulse for turning away from the screen.

Eventually, the questions stopped coming, but no one dared to look away from the screen or say a word.

Just as the man from earlier entered the room, their wrist bands had them gasping for breath and falling into unconsciousness.

When they woke up, they were picking their heads up off their desks back in the classroom. Peter felt less tired, but he didn't feel truly rested. He assumed that they were given some sort of nutrients somehow because he wasn't starving. He tried to look at his friends but was immediately reprimanded by his wrist device.

The man came in again to give them the clickers, and the questions started from the lowest difficulty once again. Like last time, they were stopped when they could no longer answer any of the questions correctly for a long time. Again, they were then knocked out to be refueled.

For the third time, they greeted consciousness in the classroom. And then again. And again. And again. For so many times that Peter lost count.


	4. Chapter 4

The Experiment Chapter 4

Steve thought they only pertained to these test questions, but he soon realized that the rules given earlier were meant to be carried with them everywhere. One, don't talk unless spoken to. Two, don't refuse an order. Three, don't communicate with Bucky or Peter.

Bucky was the best at following these rules. They were pretty much the same rules he followed during his time as the winter solider. But Peter? It was hard for that kid to keep his mouth shut and sit still. The army veterans worried about their young friend constantly.

This was why, when they woke up in beds after waking up in desks for so many times in a row, the Captain didn't turn to look at his team. He knew they were there, but he didn't dare speak to them. He simply laid in bed and tried to appreciate the softness and warmth of the new sweatpants he was wearing. They had each been wearing the same sweats that were dressed in when they first woke up in this hell hole. He was glad to be rid of the sweaty and smelly clothing. Steve was sure that they had even given him a new pair of underwear. It was shameful for him to think about someone else changing his clothes and seeing him naked, but such a little thing as soft sweatpants gave him a shred of dignity to hold on to.

Not long after he woke up, a few people came into the room. Each of the three was pulled out of the bed. In bare feet, they followed a few of their captors wordlessly down some hallways and through a doorway. No one dared to refuse the orders. Attempting an escape would be useless if they couldn't get their wristbands off first.

Finally, they were led into a huge room that held a large, deep swimming pool. One of the leaders turned to the three boys and commanded, "Stand in the water and remain there."

"Are we gonna be electrocuted?!" Peter blurted out before he could stop the panic that rose within him. Immediately he felt the electricity pulse through his body, causing him to grimace in pain and regret his question even more.

Surprisingly, the woman decided to answer him. "Your monitors are waterproof. Unlike the mental exercises, this is an endurance check. Communication is permitted but will be monitored. However, physical touch between members is prohibited." She then stepped aside so that the three could reach the ladders into the pool.

Bucky moved his arms to take off the sweatshirt and t-shirt, but a shock to his wrist stopped him.

"I did not order you to undress," the woman sneered.

So much for new sweatpants, Steve thought bitterly.

Therefore, the three boys climbed down into the water, fully dressed. The clothing braced them against the chill of the water, but it also slowed their movements drastically. It was just deep enough to cover Peter's shoulders completely. Almost instinctively, they arranged themselves into a row with Steve in the middle, facing their captors who turned and exited the room.

As soon as they left the large room, the ceiling lights switched off. Without windows, the only light in the room ‒small, green dots representing operating cameras‒ came from some places where the walls touched the ceilings. They all had better-than-average night vision, especially Peter, but it was eerie and silent except for the occasional smack of water on tile. Being submerged in water in complete darkness was the perfect setting for their imaginations to act up.

* * *

"Steve?" Bucky whispered, breaking the silence some time after their hands had all gone wrinkly.

After a moment of suspense to see if talking really was allowed here, Steve replied, "Yeah, Buck?"

"Remember when the training officer would wake you up before dawn for showers?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"That's what this feels like."

Steve agreed. Cold and dark, but manageable.

* * *

"Do you think it's okay to float?" Peter asked quietly. He wasn't sure how long they had been like this, but he was getting tired.

"No," The other two answered in unison.

Steve felt his heart ache for the kid. Bucky was right: this felt like something that an old-fashioned military trainer would command. The kid could barely follow direct orders from Tony, let alone some scientific generals. He tried to help the kid, advising, "Try to bend your knees a little. Don't be so stiff."

* * *

"Maybe we can pass the time with a song," Bucky suggested.

When neither of his partners replied, Bucky began, "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer‒"

"Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall," the others joined in.

They managed to sing the song twice before Steve refused to sing anymore.

It was getting colder.

* * *

"I heard this story one time that was like…" Peter paused to check that he had the story correct in his head. "It doesn't matter how much water is in the glass, whether it's half full or half empty or whatever. After holding up the glass for a long time, it'll feel heavy no matter how much water is in it."

When neither of the older men commented, Peter elaborated. "My clothes are starting to feel heavy."

* * *

"You guys ever hear of the polar bear plunge?" Peter asked.

"Where you swim in the ocean on New Year's Eve? I did that with Sam one year," Steve recalled.

"Is this how cold it was?"

Steve didn't want to answer the kid. Yes, this felt as cold as that. The temperature of the water was definitely dropping, but he didn't want to scare the kid.

Bucky sensed his best friend's unease, so he tried to cover it up. He reassured, "Well, if people can do that and survive then we can do it, too, right?"

* * *

Peter thought about the Titanic. He wanted to ask Bucky and Cap if they thought the Titanic water felt this cold, but he was too tired to open his mouth. His arms and legs had gone numb a little while ago. He decided to close his eyes.

* * *

Steve was worried about Peter because the kid hadn't said anything in a while, but when he opened his mouth, his brain short-circuited and he called out "Buck" instead of "Peter."

"'m here," Bucky answered in a mumble after a minute.

Peter didn't react.

"Pe'er?" Bucky asked quietly, practically reading his best friend's thoughts about their littlest teammate.

Still, no sound was made from Steve's other side.

"Poke 'm," Bucky whispered to Steve.

"Rules," Steve mumbled back.

"Nah" was all that Bucky could say, but Cap understood and agreed. The kid's life was more important than some dumb rules. Unfortunately, his arms were heavy and numb. He wasn't even sure if he was actually moving them until his open hand collided with Peter's stomach.

The men felt the ripple of water as Peter's body swayed.

The lick of the water at his face and the teenager's lack of reaction stirred something within Steve. His eyes snapped opened, and he felt his heart rate pick up. In seconds, the adrenaline in his body was controlling his movements. He felt his arms curling around the younger boy's torso, and he began to trudge towards the ladders. Halfway there, Bucky caught up to them to help drag Peter out of the water.

When the three collapsed onto the floor, the overhead lights switched on and men in scrubs rushed into the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Bruce reviewed the myriad of assays on the bench in the wet lab then turned back to the whiteboard. He and the other scientists had scribbled possible formulas all over it.

"Bruce," an assistant called, walking up to the group surrounding the board. "I have the data from the last test. Here."

"Let me see." Banner studied the graphs for a few moments as he mentally ran through the calculations before passing it to one of his colleagues. "It must be that formula there," he concluded, pointing to the upper right corner of the board.

"I think we should run it through the spec one more time to be sure," one of the techs advised.

"Only one of our predictions fits this data. We should move on to start studying the effects of the compound," a post-doc said.

"Jamie's right: run it again to be sure," Bruce directed. "In the mean time, Donna and Kelechi, you two can start isolating more of this from the blood samples. I want the rest of you to put your heads together and write up experiment ideas to start testing this compound, okay? I'm going to take this back to Stark."

After a few clarification questions and nods of agreement, Bruce headed to the other side of the building toward the engineering lab. It had been seven and a half days since the kidnapping. Banner was well-aware of the team's increasing feelings of despair, but he was hoping that this would lead to something.

Arriving at the doors to Stark's lab, Bruce punched in the security code. "Tony!" Stark spun around in his chair as his friend approached. Even from quite a few feet away, the bags under his eyes were evident. "Tony, we have the formula for the poison," Bruce informed. He handed Tony his notepad on which he scrawled the formula.

Immediately, Tony's entire demeanor changed. Re-energized by the promising lead, he got to his feet to probe, "Well, what is it?"

"It's not something I recognize. The coordination complex contains radioactive palladium though."

"Palladium?" Tony knew metals, so of course he knew that palladium was very rare.

"Yeah. We might be dealing with a pretty wealthy guy here." Bruce noted. "That stuff isn't cheap, and he's making complex compounds out of it."

Tony nodded. "It can't be that difficult to find someone buying this in bulk." Then, turning to his computer screen, he commanded, "FRIDAY, show me all the sources of palladium."

* * *

It soon became clear that no one was buying palladium in bulk.

"I thought we were getting somewhere," Tony grumbled.

Pepper could see the anger in his eyes as he moved around the kitchen.

"I mean, where the hell do you get all that metal without being detected?" He dumped some coffee grounds into the reusable filter cup without really measuring it and smacked the lid of the Keurig down.

"Tony," Pepper said calmly.

Not hearing her, he only continued, "Is there an underground dealer or something?"

Just as he was about to press the button to brew his coffee, Pepper reached over to stop his hand. "Tony. It's after one in the morning. You don't need more coffee."

Tony sighed and placed his hands flat on the counter to lean against it. He hung his head and closed his eyes. "Fine."

He left his mug on the counter as he crossed the room to the liquor cabinet.

"Tony," Pepper said, disapproval in her voice. She crossed her arms and directed her frown at her partner.

This time, he heard her but chose to ignore her. He took out a bottle of whiskey and walked past Pepper to find a glass in one of the cabinets. Grabbing one, he slammed it on the counter and filled it.

"Please, just come to bed," Pepper pleaded. He was exhausted, and it was obvious.

Lifting his glass and turning to face her, Tony argued, "How can I sleep, knowing that my friends could be dying right now?"

He threw back the shot and filled it again.

Pepper tried to interrupt his monologue. "Tone‒"

"How can I sleep, knowing that a teenager is missing because of me?!" He continued over her.

Knocking the second back, he poured a third.

"We shouldn't have gone in there. It was _my_ fault."

When he finished the third glass, Pepper slowly backed away. She was not prepared to take on a raging, drunk Tony Stark.

"It was a trap, and I should've known," he yelled. On his way to fill the glass again, his hand missed and, instead of bringing it down onto the counter, the glass shattered on the floor. "Why don't you all care?!"

"FRIDAY," Pepper addressed quietly as she watched Tony reach for a new glass from the cabinet. "Call Rhodes. Tell him it's urgent."

* * *

It was around three o'clock when Pepper and Rhodey sat down on the couch in the living room. Shortly after Rhodey had arrived, Tony collapsed in a heap onto the floor, littered with glass shards, and he held his face in his hands to cover the tears that threatened to fall. Rhodey had to practically carry him to his bed.

"He thinks we don't care," Pepper whispered to break their silence.

Rhodey shook his head. "Of course we care and you know that. He's just taking it more personally."

Pepper nodded. "He feels responsible, especially for Peter."

"Yeah, and he's probably thinking that the kid is going through an experience similar to his in Afghanistan."

When neither said anything after a while, Pepper suggested, "Let's clean up the glass in the kitchen and get to bed."


End file.
